Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the Turkish Government on the treatment of minorities in that country.

We strongly support all minority groups in Turkey and encourage the Turkish authorities to safeguard their welfare and respect their human rights, in line with provisions in the Turkish constitution that protect the rights of all minorities. With our partners, we continue to call on Turkey to act in line with the conventions of the Council of Europe and broader democratic norms, as well as making progress on domestic judicial reforms. We keep these issues under regular review.